From: disc@vector.casti.com Wed Sep 14 15:35:04 1994
Date: Wed, 14 Sep 1994 09:51:04 -0500 (GMT-0500)
Excerpts from mail: 13-Sep-94 ACTION ALERT: Alerts from t.. by David
Casti@casti.com
> "Catholic Students Disciplined for Defending Their Faith"
>
> (Pittsburgh, PA)-- Patrick Mooney and Todd Olson have
> violated the "freedom of speech" of Carnegie Mellon University's
> campus homosexual organization, "cmuOUT." Mooney and
> Olson objected to a poster advertising a film about the AIDS
> activist group ACT UP, featuring a picture of Cardinal John
> J. O'Connor next to a condom with the message, "Know Your
> Scumbags." Dean of Student Affairs Michael Murphy placed
> them on disciplinary probation. "I'm upset that this university
> will defend an inflammatory poster as free speech, " Mooney
> said. "I'm simply a faithful Catholic who is being harassed by
> a professor and Carnegie Mellon for defending my faith."
> The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights is defending
> Mooney and Olson, calling the action "a rank display of bigotry
> against Catholics." To protest (or support!) CMU's disciplinary
> action, contact: Mr. Michael C. Murphy, Dean of Student Affairs,
> CMU, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890, 412-268-2075.
The professor referred to above, and the members of cmuOUT, who filed a
complaint against Mooney and Olson were denied access to information
about the case after the initial disciplinary hearing. They were not
informed by the administration about what if any disciplinary action was
taken by the administration. The claim that Mooney was put on probation
was information from Mooney himself in self-serving public announcements.
Rumors suggest that Dean Murphy lifted the probation under pressure from
Mooney's lawyers, but the probation was never a serious punishment in
the first place. It amounted to nothing more than a threat of more
serious punishment in case Mooney was again convicted of violating the
University's rules.
The University's confidentiality policies regarding disciplinary
proceedings kept the University, cmuOUT and the professor from telling
their side of the story about what brought on the proceedings. Mooney
relayed information to the press, which printed distorted accounts and
unfair criticism of the professor, cmuOUT and the University. The
losers in this case were the gay people who filed the complaint. Dean
Murphy did nothing to protect them from further harm.
CMU's disciplinary procedures are a joke and did nothing to protect gays
from harassment in this case.